Mazarrón beaches: Playa del Rihuete

A large, sandy, fully serviced "no smoking" beach in the town of Puerto de Mazarrón

Blue Flag and Q for Quality at this 600-metre-long sandy beach

Playa Rihuete is an urban Mediterranean beach in the eastern part of Puerto de Mazarrón, on the way out of the town towards Cartagena and on the seafront facing across the bay to La Azohía and Cabo Tiñoso.

It is a vast urban beach, 600 metrs long, with high density in summer and full facilities, one of various fitting this description in and around Puerto de Mazarrón, with the reasons for its popularity including not only its location, close to large apartment blocks, but also the wide range of facilities, the fine sand, its size and the palm-tree-lined Paseo Marítimo which runs behind it, packed with restaurants and shops.

The Playa del Rihuete enjoys both Blue Flag beach and Q for Quality status, which indicates that it has been recognised by both the Spanish Tourist Board and an international body set up to encourage environmentally friendly beaches, the FEE. Both flags are a recognition of the quality of the services on this beach as well as its cleanliness and the quality of the water.

Services

During peak months there are lifeguard and first aid facilities, drinking water, toilets, specially adapted toilets for those with disabilities, bins and recycling containers, footwashes, and volunteers from the Red Cross to assist disabled bathers, although there is not a specific disabled bathing area.

A number of sporting and leisure items can be hired, including water padeloes.

There are ramps down onto the beach and wooden slatted walkways onto the sand and access is easy with ramps and steps down from the paseo.

There are children´s play facilities on the paseo running behind the beach itself and plenty of shaded seating beneath the palm trees, both in public areas and the many restaurants located along the paseo and in the streets behind the beach.

The Paseo is a shaded palm tree walk which runs right along the seafront of the Puerto de Mazarrón from this point up to the fishing port and marina, with plenty of shops, bars and restaurants, all in easy walking distance of the apartments crowding this stretch of urban beaches.

No smoking

In the summer of 2018 this beach was nominated by the Town Hall of Mazarrón as a "no smoking" beach. No official ban is in place, but bathers and other beachgoers are urged to refrain from lighting up on the sand, not only for the sake of their own health but also in order to prevent discarded butts from remaining on the beach and then contributing to marine pollution when they are washed into the sea.

There are six beaches involved in this scheme on the Costa Cálida, the others being Villananitos in San Pedro del Pinatar, Playa Mistral in La Manga, El Pesdador and el Castillico in Santiago de la Ribera and Playa de la Concha in Los Alcázares.

Parking and access

Parking is always a problem for users of these high density urban beaches during the peak summer months, when the population of the municipality increases from 30,000 to 150,000 for two months of the year.

This beach is serviced by a car parking area at the El Alamillo beach end, near to the Petanca Club, but during the busy summer peak months this is totally inadequate, as most of the spaces are taken by holidaymakers renting the apartments opposite the beach. Those who have vehicles may prefer to drive to one of the lower density beaches where more parking is available.

In the winter it´s an excellent, empty urban beach, popular on soft autumn evenings, and with locals who enjoy a stroll along the sand from the marina area to the Rihuete curve where it hits the rocks, about 1km, then wander back along the paseo and stop for a drink and tapas at the plentiful bars.

There are 4 parking bays reserved for disabled vehicles.

The beach is also serviced by the urban bus on the urban Mazarrón-Murcia route. For the latest timetable and further information about the Mazarrón municipality go to the dedicated Mazarrón municipality section.(see Tourist info for bus timetables)

Playa Rihuete joins seamlessly with the Playa del Puerto which continues as far as the sporting marina and fishing port, creating a vast area of fine sand, which is always busy during the summer.